My Write: Dust-up at the Samohi corral

Apples were held up Sunday at City Hall on behalf of Mark Black, a teacher that was placed on leave following an altercation with a pair of Santa Monica High students. (Paul Alvarez Jr. editor@smdp.com)

An incident at Santa Monica High School recently has made national news. It was the wrestling match between Samohi science teacher/wrestling coach Mark Black and an 18-year-old student. Coach Black won the match with a two-point takedown.

The scuffle took place in Black’s classroom according to news reports after the teacher approached the student who was allegedly selling marijuana.

The student either threw a punch at Black, stabbed him with a pencil and/or pushed him according to various eyewitness accounts. Black grabbed the student, wrestled him to the floor and held him down. Portions of the incident were recorded on student cell phones. Santa Monica Police were called and Blair Roderick Moore from Los Angeles and a 16-year-old, male student from Santa Monica were arrested.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Superintendent Sandra Lyon was informed about the cell phone video which was already posted on You Tube and being broadcast on local TV newscasts.

Lyon e-mailed parents and staff that same Friday that an unnamed teacher was involved in “a deeply disturbing” and “utterly alarming” incident that resulted in the police being called to campus. Lyon wrote that the teacher used an “unacceptable” kind of physical restraint in a confrontation with a student. She placed Black on paid leave shortly after the incident.

According to the Santa Monica Police Department, Moore was charged with “two counts of threatening a public school official” and “one count of possession of less than 28.5 grams of marijuana on school grounds,” “one count of possession of a box cutter on school grounds,” and “one count of force or violence against a school employee in retaliation for an act performed in the course of his or her duties.” All misdemeanors.

Mark Black is a well-liked teacher and coach. His students, friends and supporters put up a Facebook page and started a Change.org online petition to show support for the popular educator. The “We Support Coach Black” has garnered nearly 20,000 Facebook “likes” while the online petition had 7,000 signatures as of Thursday.

By Saturday, the groundswell of support for Black had caught the superintendent’s attention and she issued another statement. She wrote that some had interpreted her initial statement as prejudging the teacher’s conduct and it didn’t take into account the conduct of students involved.

“I apologize that my comments focused solely on the message that teachers should not physically engage when disciplining or intervening without underscoring that we need to obtain all the details leading up to this situation before we reach conclusions,” she stated.

Lyons has promised “a thorough and independent” investigation of the incident before the end of spring break which is next Monday.

Moore pleaded “not guilty” to his charges and was released on his own recognizance after his arraignment last Tuesday. The 16-year-old (name withheld) was arrested on “suspicion of battery against a school employee” and is awaiting arraignment.

Lyon was wrong in airing an opinion before the facts were out — something that has resulted in calls for her termination. I don’t think her “rush to judgment” is reason to fire her nor do I think that putting Black on administrative leave pending a full investigation was uncalled for.

Putting a teacher or staff member on leave in a situation like this is standard operating procedure in most school systems and I’m betting Black will be welcomed back as a hero next Monday.

Other issues have been raised which I consider to be much more troublesome. Moore was a resident of Los Angeles and attending Samohi, apparently as a permit student although the district has not responded to questions about his student status.

I have no issue with permits being issued to children of school district, City Hall or Santa Monica College employees. It’s well known that hundreds of students here are imported from outside districts for a number of reasons including income from the daily, student remuneration the state of California pays school districts.

Although Moore is considered innocent until proven guilty, it would behoove the school board to set up a screening and evaluation process to make sure that students coming into the school district from Los Angeles or elsewhere on permits are striving to improve their education and not potential trouble-makers.

The SMMUSD has no public relations or public information officer. So when it comes to the press, it’s more a matter of who reporters can find in a timely manner to interview. Normally, this would be the public information officer, superintendent (who in this case issued e-mails) or the president of the Board of Education. However, the present board president, Maria Leon Vazquez, is on record as “not speaking to the press.” How unfortunate.

This would have been a great opportunity for board member Ben Allen, who is running for State Senate, to step to the plate but that didn’t happen, either.

Board member Oscar de la Torre seems to be the “go-to guy” on a lot of community issues as he was on this one. He handled himself well with the media. But, since when did de la Torre become the SMMUSD’s official spokesperson?

Inquiring minds want to know if the next talking head on the six-o-clock news is speaking officially or stating personal opinions on school issues. The school board desperately needs to come up with an official spokesperson — whether it be an administrator or one of their own.

The lack of discipline results in lack of respect! Any child who challenges authority clearly shows a lack of respect. And yes you’re right they will end up in prison one day unles they learn to respect others!

I am inspired by the numbers who have shown up to support Mark Black. As a samohi teacher this has been an extremely difficult issue to process. I’m very fortunate to be a part of such an amazing community and am inspired every day by the amazing talents of my colleagues and the outpouring of support from parents. Mark Black is an exceptional teacher and person. He always puts others before himself and shares a genuine love for teaching and for life that has clearly changed the lives of many. I truly believe that after further investigation, he will be reinstated. It saddens me that so many have been so quick to harshly judge our smmusd leaders. While I too was extremely disheartened to read Sandra Lyons’ initial response, I am still hopeful that she will continue to lead our district in the direction that she has begun. This is the first time in 10 years that I have truly felt supported by our district and administrative leaders. Eva Mayoral entered a very broken samohi this year and has given her soul to repair an extremely dysfunctional system. The incident that occurred in Mark’s classroom only speaks to these bigger issues. We all want to share our passion for teaching our content in a safe environment; but we also want to reach those disenfranchised students in hopes of leading them down a different path. There are many Blair Moores at samohi and at every school across the country. Outside of his drug related issues, he is an avid fisherman with a passion for marine conservation. Like so many others, he is extremely low skilled academically. Because of class size and funding, he often doesn’t get the support that he deserves. He clearly made a bad choice and needs to be held accountable for those actions. I’m beyond grateful to Mark for that. Because of Mark, maybe Blair will finally wake up. More importantly, I hope that this incident has awakened us all to the serious flaws in our public educational system and I hope that people continue to take action. I fully believe that this is what will happen in Santa Monica. I trust that under the leadership of Sandra Lyon and Eva Mayoral, we can finally begin working together as a school, a district and a community. Much gratitude to all of you, especially my friend Mark Black, for bringing this to light.